Merchandise display stand



Dec. 25, B U C MERCHANDISE DISPLAY STAND Filed Jul 'ze, 1952 IN VENTU EENJAM Z/Qwm Q Patented Dec. 25, 1934 UNITED STATES 1 Claim.

The invention relates to display stands of the easel type, for displaying in attractive form, merchandise which is offered for sale.

In addition to the display and support of the key chains, the present invention is greatly advantageous in the time-saving convenience it offers in the presentation of a new method of attaching or connecting the articles to the display stand.

Formerly, it has been required that each flexible key chain be looped and then attached or connected to the display stand by an individual fastener or clip, which encircled the key chain, and was passed through perforations in the stand, the free ends of the fastener or clip-being then bent at the rear side of the stand, to secure the fastener or clip, and support the chain in position upon the stand. This proved to be a tedious operation, and the aggregate economic loss following the performance of repeating the operation millions of times, was very great.

The present invention greatly simplifies the old procedure, and consequently effects a very great economy in time and labor required in accomplishing the same object.

As before indicated, the invention is particularly applicable to the display and support of flexible key chains. The flexible section of the ball chain has at one end a shell having a diameter slightly larger than the connected balls forming the chain. The panel of the display stand or easel is provided with a plurality of perforations, having a diameter large enough for the flexible chain to be passed therethrough, but too small to permit the passage of the enlargement or shell attached to the other end of the chain.

When the perforations are filled, and the stand or easel set up, the several flexible chains will hang downwardly on the face of the panel, and be restrained from further movement bythe enlargements or shells engaging the rear side of the panel. A flexible chain so suspended, may be easily detached from its display position, by simply grasping the enlargement or shell, and withdrawing the chain.

The details of the construction shown will now be described, and the novelty residing in the invention will be pointed out in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a view in front elevation of the panel of a display stand constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view on the line 2-2, Fig. 1, showing the panel as having a leg hinged thereto to form an easel, and showing how the flexible chains are supported in position upon the face of the panel; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view similar to Fig. 2, on the line 33, Fig. 1, looking from the left, and illustrating the older, tedious method of attaching and supporting the flexible key chains upon the face of the panel.

In the drawing, the numeral 10 indicates a front board or panel, which may be a card, or be in the form of a stand or easel. The panel is adapted to hold upon its face a plurality of flexible key chains 11, two of which are shown in connection'with a panel having provisions for the support of more than twenty like articles. The key chain is made up of a series of balls, as is now well known in the art, and at one end is attached a shell 12, the diameter of which is slightly larger than that of the balls forming the chain. The unattached end of a chain is passed through a perforation 13, with any suitable number of which the panel 10 may be provided.

Theshell 12, forming an enlargement, will not pass through the perforation 13, but is brought into engagement with the rear side'of the panel while the ball section of the chain hangs freely upon the face of the panel, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, and is thus supported and displayed in an attractive manner. To remove one of the flexible chains from its position of display, it is necessary only to pull upon the shell 12, and thereby withdraw the chain from its support.

Fig. 2 shows the panel 10 as provided with a leg 14, hinged at the rear, to constitute the display stand as an easel.

In order to practically demonstrate the manner in which the free end of the flexible chain is connected to the free end of the shell, I have shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a flexible chain formed as a double loop 15, and secured upon the face of the panel by means of a fastener or clip 16, such as has been hereinbefore referred to as the means formerly employed for attaching thev flexible chains to the display stand. The prongs of the fastener or clip are made to pass through perforations 17, in the upper corner of the panel, and are then clinched at the rear, as shown in Fig. 3. To balance the display, a double loopchain 15 will be fastened at the other upper corner as well.

The face of the panel 10 may be produced with symmetrical spaces with colored grounds, and

Having thus described my invention, what I permit the chain to be drawn therethrough, each claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of of said perforations being smaller than the enthe United States, is: largement at the end of the chain to prevent A stand for supporting and displaying flexible passage of the enlargement therethrough, said 5 key chains, each having an enlargement at one several perforations coacting with vthe enlargeend, said stand comprising a panel having a ments of said chains to support the same in sushorizontally extended series of individual chain pended condition upon the face of said panel. receiving perforations therein, each of said per- I forations being larger than on oi said chains to H xi t yp 

